"Are you absolutely sure we have to do this?" Professor Nick Cutter asked for the fifth time, grimacing at himself in the mirror. He was seriously regretting agreeing to any of it, especially the part where he'd allowed a face-paint-possessing Stephen to get within a twenty-foot radius of his face. He wore a dull grey t-shirt under the remains of a jacket that had been torn apart by an angry raptor, faded blue jeans, and black boots, and his face had been transformed into a complete battlefield: long scars crossed his whitened cheeks, fake blood dripped from his mouth, and hideous black shadows surrounded his eyes. "What am I even supposed to be?"
"You're a zombie, of course," Stephen replied. He was dressed as a vampire in tight black everything, complete with fake fangs that caught the light as he smirked. He tossed his black satin cape over his shoulder and glanced at the clock on the wall. "We should get going. We'll be late."
Cutter heaved a great sigh. "Remind me again why I let you talk me into this?"
"Because it's going to be fun," Stephen said firmly. "Everyone will be there. We can chill out, have a few beers, tell some scary stories, eat candy..."
"I hope there's an anomaly alert and we get called in to deal with it," Cutter said grumpily. "Though I can't imagine what Lester would say if he saw us like this."
"Don't worry," Stephen grinned, ushering the professor out of the office. "If we do end up facing a pack of hungry dinosaurs, I'll just suck their blood and you can eat their brains."
It was only a short drive to their destination, but Cutter spent the entire time staring at his face in the rear-view mirror. "I am never again letting you anywhere near me with face-paint in your hands," he grumbled. "I look like I've been in a car accident."
"We will be in a minute. Give me that." Stephen twisted the mirror so that he could use it as he drove. "Relax, Cutter. What are you afraid of? This is Connor's mate's party we're talking about. It's not like there's going to be anyone there that you want to impress."
Cutter grunted noncommittally, before remembering that Stephen was the worst for pouncing on conversation topics that he'd really rather dropped.
"Oh?" Stephen raised an eyebrow over at the professor.
"Shut up." Cutter stared very determinedly out the window, watching the streets of London roll by. A few people were getting into the Hallowe'en spirit; they passed several lawns decorated with glowing pumpkins and fake tombstones, and a group or two of young trick-or-treaters going from door to door.
"So Claudia is coming, then?"
"Yeah," Cutter replied. "Seems like even Lester gives his people a night off once in a while. Not that she doesn't deserve it. She works harder than any of us."
"I wonder what she'll be dressed as," said Stephen, trying and failing to affect a casual air.
Cutter gave another grunted, then decided to turn the tables of the conversation. "Connor invited Sarah, too," he reminded his friend merrily.
Stephen blushed beneath his whitened face. "Yeah. I know."
"When are you going to just pluck up the nerve to ask her out?"
"It's not that easy!" Stephen protested. "I don't even know if she'd say yes."
"Now you understand my problem," Nick muttered.
Stephen rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. You know for a fact Claudia would go out with you."
"No, I don't," Cutter said. "Can we drop this? We're almost there."
"As you wish, Professor," Stephen answered with a smirk.
Duncan's small apartment only felt smaller when it was crammed with fifty costumed people. Nick Cutter, who was not a party person, went first to the bathroom to clean the mess off his face as best he could, and then tried to hide himself away in corners, but damned Stephen and damned Abby and damned Jess kept trying to drag him around and introduce him to people. His brain was filled with sour thoughts for much of the evening – the music was too loud, the food sucked, Hallowe'en was a stupid American invention anyway, and how the hell did an absolute geek like Duncan have this many friends? Admittedly, most of them were anomaly project members who'd been invited by Connor – Stephen, Abby, Becker, Jess, Claudia, Sarah, Emily, Matt... Even Lester had been invited, though he'd turned it down in no uncertain terms.
Besides Lester, though, every member of the anomaly project was gathered here, and every one of them was in a stupid costume. Vampire Stephen was flirting with Egyptian Goddess Sarah; Abby and Jess, both dressed as cats, were meowing after Ridiculously Brightly-Coloured Dinosaur Connor and Skeleton Becker Who Looked Like He Hated This Almost As Much As Cutter Did; Emily was a medieval princess who spent much of the evening on Werewolf Matt's arm. Claudia was dressed as a witch, though she had eschewed the traditional garish green body paint and simply done her nails the colour instead. Her pointed hat was sitting on the table beside her, but she absentmindedly twirled her wand in her fingers as she sipped a drink from her other hand.
"Thinking about eating her brains, Professor Cutter?" Stephen asked him wickedly, appearing out of the shadows with a wide grin.
"You look like you're having fun," Nick muttered sourly.
"I am having fun. Here." Stephen passed him a glass containing a vile-coloured liquid. When faced with Cutter's suspicious glare, Stephen's grin only widened and patted the professor's back merrily. "It's not as bad as it looks, I promise. Just try it. Maybe if you get drunk enough, you'll start staggering around like a proper zombie."
"Thanks." Cutter knocked it back and had to admit that it wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting.
"We're gonna get together and tell some scary stories in a minute," Stephen said. "You should come."
"I don't have any scary stories to tell," Cutter replied.
"Then you can learn some good ones from the rest of us," Stephen said, undeterred. "Becker and Matt reckon they've got the best, but I know for a fact theirs have nothing on mine. It'll be fun, Cutter. Let's go."
Almost reluctantly, Cutter stood and followed. The rest of the team were sprawled in a rough circle in Duncan's living room, heedless of the rest of the party going on around them. Stephen made a beeline for the gap in the circle beside Sarah; Cutter sat next to Connor, who gave him a friendly smile from underneath his dinosaur hood. "I'll start," Matt declared, his eyes glinting wickedly. "Once upon a time, a pair of orphan girls lived in a little cottage on the outskirts of a tiny Irish town..."
"...but when she awoke the next morning, her husband was not in bed beside her. In his place was a single red circle... drawn in blood."
Jess gave a great gasp and buried her face in Becker's shoulder, clinging to his arm for dear life. Across the circle, Connor, cuddled close to Abby, was doing something suspiciously similar. Stephen grinned and made a little bow from where he sat. "I win, right?"
"Not a chance, Hart," Matt said, one arm around Emily's shoulder. The storytelling had been going on for some time, but none of them were willing to concede defeat. "Em's been telling me all kinds of spooky stories from her time. The Victorians had a whole other idea of terrifying, let me tell you."
Stephen had just opened his mouth to argue when the music abruptly switched on again, playing something that even Cutter had heard. "The Time Warp!" Connor yelled, leaping up from his spot in the circle. "Sorry, everyone. Hallowe'en tradition." He, Duncan and several of their uni friends quickly formed a mob and proceeded to make unbelievable fools of themselves to just about every Rocky Horror Picture Show song there was. Matt and Stephen soon joined them; Emily and Abby were laughing and clapping their hands, while Sarah just looked on with a smirk, shaking her head. Becker and Cutter stood way back with their arms folded, though both wore small smiles. Cutter couldn't help but admit it – he was having fun. He caught sight of Claudia, watching from the other side of the room. She met his gaze and grinned. He grinned back.
Just when Cutter thought they had danced themselves out, the music changed again to a lilting waltz. "Traditional Hallowe'en Slow Dance!" Connor announced happily, rushing over to where Abby stood. Jess tugged at Becker's hands, and the normally gruff soldier was happy to oblige her. Emily and Matt moved shyly towards each other until one of them finally plucked up the courage to ask the other for a dance. Stephen, sweating a little under his make-up, held his hand out to Sarah, who made a show of deliberating until she finally took it and led him out onto the floor.
"Connor and his friends have very unusual Hallowe'en traditions," Claudia said quietly from by his shoulder.
Cutter turned to her. It was the first time she had spoken to him that night, and he was taken aback by how beautiful she looked up close. She was wearing dark red lipstick and had done something to her lashes that made her eyes big and sparkling. Well aware of the fact that he hadn't managed to scrub off all of the junk Stephen had applied to his face, Cutter felt shabby and childish standing beside her. "What? Uh... yeah, they do, I guess."
"Still," Claudia went on, slipping a hand into his, "it would be impolite not to participate, seeing as how it is their party."
Cutter was too shocked to do anything but nod.
They danced politely at first, their faces an arm's length away from each other's, but soon Claudia was resting her head on his shoulder as they moved, swaying slowly to the music. Looking around, Cutter realised that every member of the team was dancing that way – Abby and Connor; Emily and Matt; Becker and Jess; even Stephen and Sarah. "We're disgusting," he said cheerfully.
Claudia pulled away, confused. "What?"
"Look at us." Cutter nodded towards each of the couples out on the floor. "We've all paired up. We're... couply."
"'Couply'?" Claudia repeated with a soft laugh. "Is that so bad, Professor Cutter?"
He looked down at her, letting go of one of her hands to brush a lock of hair behind her ear. "No," he admitted. "I guess it's not."
They were called in early the next morning to deal with a Stegosaurus that had stumbled out of the Jurassic into a national park. Half of the team still had make-up smudged on their faces, and one or two were boasting hangovers to boot. Still, Lester's sardonic comments did nothing to dispel their high spirits. Even Cutter had had a good time the previous night.
"Sarah's agreed to go out with me on Friday," Stephen told him merrily as they crept through the park in search of the dinosaur.
"How on Earth did you get her to do that?"
"I think it was a combination of my incredible charm, rugged good looks, and flawless dancing last night," Stephen replied.
"Sure you didn't just threaten to suck her blood?"
"I can assure you, Cutter, there was no threatening involved. I asked her honestly, and she accepted honestly. Finally." Stephen was practically glowing with happiness. Cutter would have been sickened if he hadn't been feeling the same way.
"I'm making dinner for Claudia on Saturday night," he confided quietly.
Stephen stared at him in mock horror. "You'll poison her!"
"My already-fragile confidence thanks you, Stephen."
Stephen grinned and patted Nick's arm. "Oh, Cutter. Relax. I'm sure it'll be fine. Just make sure she doesn't turn you into a newt."